{"id":193,"date":"2012-10-21T09:30:18","date_gmt":"2012-10-21T13:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/?p=193"},"modified":"2020-03-16T22:13:54","modified_gmt":"2020-03-17T02:13:54","slug":"homily-for-oct-21-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/?p=193","title":{"rendered":"Homily for Oct. 21, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dome of the Church of the Transfiguration, Mt. Tabor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our language is full of expressions that reward individual initiative, and see that as a model of leadership.\u00a0 The early bird catches the worm.\u00a0 Take the bull by the horns. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.\u00a0 God helps those who help themselves.\u00a0 (That last one isn\u2019t in the Bible, by the way.\u00a0 It\u2019s from Benjamin Franklin.)\u00a0 Our culture values the go-getter, the entrepreneur, and the self-starter.\u00a0 These are the sorts of people you want it charge, right?\u00a0 But our Christian faith asks us to consider a different set of values, and a different kind of leadership.<\/p>\n

You may remember\u2014at least I hope you remember\u2014last week\u2019s Gospel, with the Rich Young Man, who found it difficult to follow Jesus, because he had many possessions, and couldn\u2019t let them go.\u00a0 This week\u2019s Gospel presents a different obstacle to discipleship:\u00a0 the desire for power and authority.\u00a0 Like the Rich Young Man last week, who ran right up to Jesus to find out how to get his share of God\u2019s Kingdom, James and John approach Jesus to ask a little favor.\u00a0 Remember, along with Peter, these two were on the inside track with Jesus.\u00a0 Often when something important was going to happen, Jesus would take along Peter, James, and John.\u00a0 They were clearly his favorites.\u00a0 So, they probably felt like they had a unique opportunity to position themselves for whatever kind of revolution was in the offing.\u00a0 So they ask for the front-row seats, on the right and left.\u00a0 You may remember this story from Luke\u2019s Gospel, which puts the question in the mouth of their mother, kind of letting them off the hook.<\/p>\n

This scene of the banquet of God\u2019s Kingdom reminds me of another banquet this past week:\u00a0 the annual Al Smith Dinner in New York, which raises funds for Catholic charities.\u00a0 Power and authority were very much in evidence, with Cardinal Dolan in the center, and President Obama and Mitt Romney on his right and his left. Although it got virtually no coverage in the secular media, I think the most important speech of the evening was Cardinal Dolan\u2019s.\u00a0 After the good-natured jibes and self-deprecating humor from the candidates, the cardinal reminded them both not to forget the marginalized and powerless:\u00a0 the unemployed, the uninsured, unwanted, unwed, unborn, the undocumented, unhoused, unhealthy, unfed, and under educated. It was a great moment; reminding the two candidates of their ultimate responsibility as leaders. It was a great moment; reminding the two candidates of their ultimate responsibility as leaders.<\/p>\n

In the Gospel, James and John fundamentally misunderstand both what they\u2019re asking for, and what it\u2019s going to cost them.\u00a0 The very fact that they\u2019re seeking power means that they don\u2019t understand what Jesus has been trying to teach them.\u00a0 They are apparently expecting that God\u2019s reign, when it comes, is going to be like every other empire, but with themselves in the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, that\u2019s what most people expect.\u00a0 Whenever we\u2019re in the disadvantaged position, instead of imagining a world that is significantly re-structured to eliminate the injustice we\u2019ve experienced, we simply want to be in charge, and to mistreat someone else.\u00a0 History is full of examples of this:\u00a0 When the pilgrims came to America to escape religious persecution in England, the first thing they did was prohibit any religious practice different from their own.\u00a0 Think of how the Israelis treat the Palestinians.\u00a0 Once we\u2019re in charge, we tend to have a very short memory for what persecution feels like.<\/p>\n

Jesus challenges his disciples to see the Reign of God in a different way.\u00a0 The last will be first, and the first will be last.\u00a0 The one who is the ruler of all is the one who is the servant of all.\u00a0 All our expectations of power and authority will be overturned when God\u2019s justice is established.<\/p>\n

James and John do, indeed, have the inside track.\u00a0 But it doesn\u2019t lead to those nice chairs on the right and the left.\u00a0 Their inside track leads to the cross.\u00a0 They\u2019ll get to drink of the same cup that Jesus drinks.\u00a0 For the people of ancient Israel, a full cup was a symbol of abundance and blessing.\u00a0 That this particular cup would be filled with suffering would be another overturning of their expectations.\u00a0 But when God\u2019s reign restructures the world, those who suffer will find fulfillment and joy.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be alarmed if this leaves you feeling somewhat uneasy. But don\u2019t worry.\u00a0 Every one of us has ample opportunity to serve.\u00a0 We have plenty of chances to lead by serving, to put aside our egos and our natural desire for power and authority, and instead to seek humble service.\u00a0 And we will all have our encounters with the cross.\u00a0 But through all of that, we will be moving toward the reign of God, if we can keep focused on establishing justice and peace for the least of our brothers and sisters, instead of worrying about sitting in the seats of power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our language is full of expressions that reward individual initiative, and see that as a model of leadership.\u00a0 The early bird catches the worm.\u00a0 Take the bull by the horns. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.\u00a0 God helps those who help themselves.\u00a0 (That last one isn\u2019t in the Bible, by the way.\u00a0 It\u2019s from Benjamin Franklin.)\u00a0 Our culture values the go-getter, the entrepreneur, and the … Continue reading Homily for Oct. 21, 2012<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5FUlW-37","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195,"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}